Homes and Haunts of the Most Eminent British Poets, Vol. 2 (of 2)Howitt, William
General
Homes and Haunts of the Most Eminent British Poets, Vol. 2 (of 2)
Howitt, William
Literary landmarks -- Great Britain; Poets, English -- Homes and haunts
printers, James and John Ballantyne. The neighborhood of Kelso, the
town itself, quiet and old-fashioned, was well calculated to charm a
boy of his dreaming and poetry-absorbing age. The Tweed here is a
fine, broad stream, the banks are steep and magnificently hung with
splendid woods. The adjoining park and old castle, the ruins of the
fine abbey in the town, and charming walks by the Tweed or the Teviot,
which here unite, with their occasional broad, sandy beach, and
anglers wading in huge boots; all made their delightful impressions
upon him. He speaks with rapture of the long walks along the river
with John Ballantyne, repeating poetry and telling stories. His uncle,
Captain Robert Scott, lived somewhat farther out on the same side as
his aunt, at a villa called Rosebank, which still stands unchanged
amid much fine lofty timber, and with its lawn running down to the
Tweed.
Kelso was the last country abode of the boyhood of Scott. Edinburgh,
with his occasional flights into the Highlands, and his _raids_
into Liddesdale, kept him till his manhood. That found him with his
blithe little wife in his cottage at Lasswade.
Lasswade is a lovely neighborhood. It is thrown up with lofty ridges
all finely wooded. The country there is rich, and the noble woods, the
fine views down into the fertile valleys, and the Esk coming sounding
along its channel from Rosslyn and Hawthornden, make it very charming.
It is in the immediate neighborhood not only of Rosslyn with its
beautiful chapel, and the classic cliffs and woods of Hawthornden, but
of Dalkeith; and Lord Melville's park is at Lasswade itself.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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